27 December 2015

It is no secret that Meralco will be taking advantage of the 6'9" limit for the Commissioner’s Cup following the Bolts’ dismal campaign in the season-opening Smart Bro-PBA Philippine Cup.

Despite adding several key personnel led by blue-chip rookies Chris Newsome and Baser Amer as well as plucking veteran playmaker Jimmy Alapag out of retirement, the Bolts finished dead last in the All-Filipino conference with their woeful 1-10 record.

Meralco closed out its campaign on Wednesday with a 97-87 loss to Rain or Shine.

"We’re trying to recruit an import who can maybe help us in some of our needs. We got beat by 19 rebounds by Rain or Shine so we need an import who can rebound and defend the paint. That’s gonna be the most important thing," Black told sports scribes Wednesday night.

The American mentor said they already have a short list of import prospects.

"We do have imports we're looking at, but we don't have a definite guy yet. Maybe next week, we can get somebody to a contract, a guy who can help fill our weaknesses."

Meralco’s front court got younger this season with the return of 6-foot-7 Rabeh Al-Hussaini from a one-year sabbatical.

The Bolts also brought in Brian Faundo, while Kelly Nabong also got bigger playing time, but Meralco franchise still couldn’t match up with bigger teams like San Miguel Beer, Rain or Shine and Barangay Ginebra.

And Black is hopeful that their incoming big import will bring in the solid inside presence for the Bolts, who intend to redeem themselves from their woeful showing in the All-Filipino conference.

Subscribe

PBA Advisory

2017 Commissioner's Cup Format

The tournament allows teams to hire foreign players or imports with a height limit of 6-foot-10.

The top 2 teams will earn twice-to-beat edges over Nos. 7 and 8 while the No. 3 against No. 6 and No. 4 versus No. 5 pairing will be a best-of-three affair in the quarterfinals.

The semifinal stage will have a pair of best-of-five matches and the finals will be a race-to-four affair.

Gilas Pilipinas

Manila will host one of the three tournaments in the 2016 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. The Philippine national men’s basketball team will try to pull off massive upsets against France, New Zealand, Canada, Turkey and Senegal in the competition slated on July 5 to July 10 at Mall of Asia Arena.

A total of 18 teams will participate in the three-nation event whose champions will book tickets to the 2016 Rio Olympics.